Professional services in the City.

Providing latest facts and figures our professional services infographic looks at jobs and firms that make up professional services in the Square Mile. It also shows how the City is leading in legal services, management consulting and accounting and auditing compared to other local authorities.

One third of all UK professional services jobs are based in London, with two thirds outside the capital.

Why do we focus on legal services, management consulting, and accounting and auditing?
These are the three biggest professional services in the City, in terms of employment. They are closely interlinked and their presence in the City is important for the success of the financial services (FS) sector.

Why are accounting and auditing firms, management consulting or legal services firms so strongly concentrated in the City?

Professional services firms locate in proximity of their business partners and financial services firms are among their biggest clients: 18% of business demand for legal services and 23% of business demand for accounting & auditing comes from FS firms (ONS, input-output-tables, 2016 data).

Why are there so much fewer accounting and auditing firms than management consulting or legal services firms in the City?

Given the concentration of accounting & auditing jobs in the Big Four firms (EY, KPMG, PWC, Deloitte) account for a large market share of the accounting & auditing industry, this might explain why there are fewer firms in this industry (270) than in the two other sectors.